Multitestis coradioni, Bray, Rodney A., Cribb, Thomas H. & Justine, Jean-Lou, 2010

Bray, Rodney A., Cribb, Thomas H. & Justine, Jean-Lou, 2010, Multitestis Manter 1931 (Digenea: Lepocreadiidae) in ephippid and chaetodontid fishes (Perciformes) in the south-western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean off Western Australia, Zootaxa 2427, pp. 36-46 : 38-40

Multitestis coradioni n. sp.

(syn. Multitestis pyriformis Machida, 1963 of Bray et al. (1994)).

Type-host: Coradion chrysozonus (Cuvier) , Chaetodontidae , goldengirdled coralfish. Site: Intestine.

Type-locality: Heron Island (23°29’S, 151°55'E, 09/01/1992). Prevalence: 1 of 2.

Type-specimens: Holotype QM GL14941, paratypes QM GL14942; G231601 (ex GL14941) & G231602 (ex GL14942), BM(NH) 1993. 7.19.47.

Description: See Bray et al. (1994).

Discussion. This species differs from Multitestis pyriformis in the following characters. As stated above it is oval, rather than distinctly pyriform and has less densely packed vitelline follicle fields. The testes tend to be situated further posteriorly in the body (pretesticular distance about 46–51% of body-length vs 30–42%, post-testicular distance 21–38 (29)% of body-length vs 36–46%). The eggs may be larger (60–68 × 30–43 (64 × 38) vs 50–62 × 22–42). The dimensions of M. pyriformis listed here are taken from Manter (1963), Machida (1982), Toman (1989) and the new material reported above.

One other species of Multitestis (sensu stricto) has been reported in chaetodontids. Nahhas and Cable (1964) reported Multitestis rotundus in the foureye butterflyfish Chaetodon capistratus Linnaeus from Jamaica. This species was originally reported in the sparid, the sheepshead seabream Archosargus probatocephalus (Walbaum) by Sparks (1954) and is mostly reported in this fish and other sparids in the Western Atlantic Ocean (Amato 1983, Fernandes et al. 1985, Fischthal 1977, Sogandares-Bernal & Hutton 1959, Sparks 1957). M. rotundus is relatively much wider than M. coradioni n. sp. (width about 84–94% of body-length vs 50–64%), with a relatively longer forebody (about 38% of body-length vs 24–32%), the vitellarium reaches close to the anterior extremity (pre-vitelline distance about 6% of body-length vs about 14%) and the eggs are smaller (50–52 × 29–38 vs 60–68 × 30–43). The pre-testicular distance is about 43%. These comparisons are based on Sparks’ (1957) original description. Nahhas and Cable (1964) did not describe or illustrate the worms from C. capistratus , but stated that they ‘agree more’ with those of Sogandares-Bernal and Hutton (1959) than those originally described. Judging from Sogandares-Bernal and Hutton’s (1959) illustration of the worm from A. probatocephalus from Bayboro Harbour, Florida, the body width is about 63% of the body-length, the forebody is about 39% and the pre-vitelline distance is about 20%. In this illustration the pre-testicular distance is about 58% (vs 46% in M. coradioni ) and the egg-size is not given. Amato (1983) redescribed the species from the Western Atlantic seabream Archosargus rhomboidalis (Linnaeus) and the Atlantic spadefish Chaetodipterus faber (Broussonet) (Ephippidae) from off Florianópolis, southern Brazil. This description agrees most closely, but not exactly, with that of Sogandares-Bernal and Hutton (1959), with the following statistics: body-width 86–87%, forebody about 45%, pre-vitelline distance about 23%, pre-testicular distance about 51% and egg size of 52–64 × 32–40. Fernandes et al. (1985) gave some measurements of their specimens from A. rhomboidalis from off Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The worms are large 1,640–2,740 × 1,010–2,050, giving a width % of about 62–75%, with eggs 54–64 × 33–46. In no case does the description of M. rotundus resemble M. coradioni n. sp.

Bray and Cribb (1998) reported a single specimen of ‘ Multitestis pyriformis ’ from the speckled blue grouper Epinephelus cyanopodus (Richardson) (Serranidae) from Heron Island and said that it was ‘more or less identical’ with the specimens from Coradion chrysozonus . It has a body-width to length ratio of 57%, a forebody ratio of 28% and eggs 57–61 × 26–32. We have re-examined this specimen and cannot distinguish it from those from C. chrysozonus . In this connection we note that we have examined 11 individuals of E. cyanopodus from the Great Barrier Reef and have found only this one specimen of Multitestis , and no specimen was found in eight E. cyanopodus off New Caledonia (Sigura & Justine 2008). It may well be that this record should be considered an accidental infection of M. coradioni .